Guest guest Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 , you are on the right track. The thing is he caught it early. How old are you, not personal but think of having a colonoscopy or at leat a virtual colonsoscopy for you,too. The decision is a good one,depending on his age,physical condition, and having or not having any other chronic condition(diabetes,hypertension, high cholesterol,etc he should weather it well. You sound very supportive,and you are on the best help line both for information and support that there is. Best of luck. Nick & Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 Hi - Welcome to the group, although I know you wish you did not have to be here. As others have mentioned CT scans are not perfect. PET or PET/CT are more sensitive, but still not perfect, hence the recommendations for chemo. Since it has been such a short time since surgery I would suspect that there probably would not be anything new since presurgery CT. Occasionally something can get bigger in a few weeks, and they always want a baseline CT before beginning treatment and after surgery so that they know what things are likely to be a result of surgery rather than tumor. You do not mention what type of chemotherapy your father is going to be on. If you have been reading many posts you may realize that there are a wide variety of responses to chemotherapy. Many people tolerate chemotherapy much better than they expected. Different chemotherapy drugs have tendencies to cause different side effects. Nausea is one of the things that people hear about a lot as a side effect. There are a number of new drugs that can work wonders for eliminating this side effect, although sometimes one has to try several before the best drug is found. The same thing goes with control of other side effects. If your father's oncologist talked at all about placing a port, I would highly consider the recommendation. These can be a god send if your veins are fairly fragile, as it eliminates the need for repeated poking for blood samples, and for placing catheters for treatment. They can be put in near your shoulder very quickly with either a local anesthetic or with a local and a sedative. It is good to check with your oncologist about getting someone experienced to place them. My oncologist swore by one interventional radiologist who put in all his ports. I have had mine for 21 mth with no problems. Best wishes, Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 29, 2004 Report Share Posted February 29, 2004 Thank you all for such great support and information. Keep it coming. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can so I can help prepare my family for what's coming. Knowing that there are others out there who are doing the same makes me feel good, whereas the week before I felt alone. I'll have more information on Friday 3/6 when we meet w/the oncologist again. From the sounds of it, it is a long road ahead. I wish I could be of more help to those of you out there. But will share all the information that my family gets in the hopes that it helps someone else. Also my best wishes for those who are here fighting this. You're an inspiration. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 29, 2004 Report Share Posted February 29, 2004 Thank you all for such great support and information. Keep it coming. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can so I can help prepare my family for what's coming. Knowing that there are others out there who are doing the same makes me feel good, whereas the week before I felt alone. I'll have more information on Friday 3/6 when we meet w/the oncologist again. From the sounds of it, it is a long road ahead. I wish I could be of more help to those of you out there. But will share all the information that my family gets in the hopes that it helps someone else. Also my best wishes for those who are here fighting this. You're an inspiration. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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